Vertically-folding door



Jan. 13, 1931. W. ALDERSON 'y 1,788,651

VERTIGALLY FOLDING DOOR' A 5 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Dec. 27, 1928 lNlHliilHllillIl[lHHIIIHIHIIHHIIIIIHIN H'INIIIIHHINHHHHHHHHlllllizmllllml 23 INVENTOR Wmdez'son BY 9 ATTO RN EY Jam-13, 1931.. W. ALDERSQN 1,788,651

VERT I GALLY FOLDING DOOR Filed Dec. 27. 1928 v 3 sheets-sheet 2 INVENTOR Wl* ALdeI's/Jn Jan. 13, 1931. w. ALDERsoN VERTICALLY FOLDING DOOR Filed Dec. 27, 1928 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR WLAldf'rson E* SM1? um v- A ATTORNEY uPatented Jan. 13, 1931 v1,788,6r1g

WILLIAM zitnngasogyor sireneinnitro',l entirota'imiV i "i.ERTCLTi-FOLMNG DOLOR' applicatien 'mea Decenterar; 1928,.'3 seriai No. ,326',810. .Y

'- ..-Thisinvention relatesto door construction f and particularly to doors K4foruse'iii-garages,

i arranged so as toopenvverticallyand in suchY a. vr'nanner that. the.- opening kmovementvvill'V take place automaticallyy as *soon as .the holdivarehouse'isV andfV similar '.huil'dings whichf refqnire Yrelatively largeldoors. f vv; f

g Theprincipallohject off-my invention is to providev a door construction for this purpose 0 ing latchisireleased, While at the same time permitting Iotleasyfjmanual closing 'of the' door. f .n

y1 A'further object of thei'nventionjis' to conf structth'e 'door so `thatisaid, 'door-and. its

I i 'roundingiframevvork offa Building/@Without Side of the Wan-waneer the Sametime' a requires very door c`asing;"\-"V i y The' door, as'ahove' `stated;.is arranged'to open automatically When releasedand-'l have therefore provided a catch release; means adapted to hey actuated; somedi'stance, trom the door and to' one side offthe same yso that 'Seid doorjiiiay b 'caused to open by the iriver of a car approaching 'the garage Without-his having to Vleavefthe vehicle. 1 k f While the door and its frame"are` of metal so as toy he of a iiiepfoof nature-and therefore usefuly in anyplace .Where p 'y`1repfiovotf` door yis required, Nthe arts arefsojarranged that' the structure as f (in :tact ascheapas a Woodendoor structure) A;

.'While saidjfpartsbeing assembled .in thefactory as ,aiinitv Withithe frame the 11structureV isl very easy, to install in place.Vv f,

"These objects'rI'faccomplish-thyy means of such structure andi relative'farrangement of ,follovvin'gfspecicationand claims.

Inthe drawings similar Charactersfofreterstalled therein in din connection. W-ith xthevsurjf ing' the catch structure. 7 1

little greater-height f to t then recei'vegitithan'i's aiiorded bythe ordinary vwhole can vhemade very, @,hply

Aence yindicatecorresponding 'parts =in the severalvievvs:l f' i f Figlis a perspective outlineoi? theEront of a garage showing my yimproved. door inf position.l f

apartly open or, raised 2 interior' elevation of .the door mounted in positionlandclosed,ivithlthesur! roi11i,dingframe or casing in-'sectionQ Fig. Seis; an enlarged crossgsect'ion ofthe 1 structure showing the. door'in its closed position..` vFigui l @is an enlargedfragmentary ycross' `section yshowing .the members of "the'door in theiryra'ised 'or .do'o'ropening positions. i i

`oi a pair. ofv cooperating :doorch'annels Figiisa-siinilar viewloroken out voifthe hase member orfsill of .the door casing Vshow*- jFig. 71is any enlarged cross gsectionoffthe f door: panels showing. the sameV in their" raised position.

@Referring now inoref particularly to the cliar'ac'ter'sl of reference .onithe drawings, :the casing` of the door comprises ahollow base 'sill il, -upstandiiig hollow; side .members y2' at the ends ofthe baseiand relatively deepcap plates '3 extending hetvveenithe `sidesat the top; saidplates :being spaced i apart horizontally `and lying: yflush With the frontand back 'sidesffof said Vmembers 2... 'll'iesel plates have large openingsextending transversely oi-the" door .lareaythe front4 or outerone of which is covered by a `glass Window arrangement 4;. The partsahovegdescribed are of sheet metalofthe required'quality and gage to.give.thenecessarystrength and are connected together inv .anyy suitable manner to .fform alrigidlunit. easily .installed yin place'in connection `with the standard studdingand v other traine-Wearl;7.5` oiftlie` garage or lother building in which ,the doorislmo'unted.

The' door itself comprises a numberl Ofselm 'rate'panelplates' which are 'also' ofsheet inetal andfvvhich'vvhenextended relative to eachother forma complete enclosure'torlthe parts as Will fully appear by a perusal of the *Y door opening, and then 4extend-from the sill] to?thedovver'edges-ofthe cap plates 3, and of cou-rse between jill? i `At".fifheirsI sid@ 55-- yFig. 5 is faragmentaryperspective :lvievvlv 10c y f edges these panels project into slots 7 providedin the adjacent orinner sides of 'the Y uprights 2 from top to bottom, the edges of rall extended. The various panels are so disposed that 'wheny extended their lower ends Vare infront of and overlapthe upper ends of the successively lower panels, so that when said panels are raised they will be disposed inwardly of but close to each other in' suc` Y cessive order from the uppermost paneldown liangeswill then abutagainst and rest within each other.v The panel 'flanges also project in front of the. panels a short distance and arc bent down in the form of lips tocooperate with and be engaged by the upturned grooved lower ends 9 of adj acentv panels'when the latterare extended as? shown in Figs.l 3 and 5.,

- so that the panels have asubstantiallyairtight lit with each other and in'addition they i are' also hangin suspended Vrelation from eachother; Besides servingffor' the above named purposes itA will be seen that the vflanges 8 andthe elements: 9 also functionV as strengthening ribs for the panels attop and bottom, preventingl any tendency for.. the

` panels to buckle between their ends. l

- The panels. are had indes@ Side. by Siamlation with .eachother when raised, and theV respective, top 'flangesv `no longerV litv snugly between the. sides of the slot A7, by' means. of guide flangesv11 provided with the panels at the sidesand parallel toand inwardly of the back facesrof said panels a'short distance. These-flanges are sli'dable in transverse slots 12 out in'from the side edges of the flanges 8Y just behind the respective panels. By rea.- son of the above arrangement. it will be seen that when the panels are raised they areV maintained parallel andclose to each other but when lowered they are` disposed somewhat at a slant relative to a vertical pla-ne in offset relation to each other but stillA being .disposed in va substantially'vertical plane asV awhole. j y j The topflanges ofthe di'erent vpanels when extended lit snugly between the sides of the Hslots, 7 as previously stated. These fianges areprevented fromjamm-ing in the slots (whosesides taper toward eachother) by reason 0f stops 13 projecting into the slots and on which the vbottom ofthe topmost panel (from which all the others. are. sus,-

`connection with the members Sand connect with .counterweights 16 which are movable vertically in the hollow members 2 behind their slotted walls. The combinedV weight ofthese counterweights need but be slightly greater than the weight of all the door panels together.. VThis is because owing tothemam ner .in which the panels are vconnected with f each other, the weights :only haveto raise the lowermost :panel first until its top` flange enj gages the top flange .of the adjacent .panel as shown in Fig. e. Atvthe same time the top Y above. The combined -weight of these` two panels alone is ,then taken Aby the counterweights and so von untilv al-lvthe panels are raised, the counterweights onlyl sustaining' the load ofthe entire doorv when the upper-k most panel is being itself raised. These weightswhenV initially kstarting to raise the door iai-"every heavycompared to the weight vofthe relatively., lightr parts which are then being moved, so that 'considerable momenturn -is-imparted thereto. j Therefore by theY time. the Vuppermost panel is engaged and move the momentum of the structure is sui"-V ic-ientfto cause said uppermost panel as well door opening movement.

The door when lowered is held in that position against the action of the counterweightsk by a rigidcatch lugrl? depending from thebottom panel and adaptedto project through aY slot 18 in the upper faceV of the silll and to thenengag'e a transversely shiftable horiZontalcatch bar 19 which is pivoted sary furtherdistance to .complete the full at one end in the sill and is normally moved v fixed post 22; said cable of course passing*V intermediate its ends over direction changing* pulleysl 23 wherever necessary. By means of this arrangement thecatch may be :released and the doors caused Vto open by the driverfot a'carwithout his. leaving the drivers seat. j.

' To enablethe; doorv to be lowered to la closed position handles 24; are mounted on Ymo as. alljtheothersv to be then raised the necesf l no Y c the forward face-of thelowest paneladja! 'cent the bottom. l g t From the foregoing invention as set forth herein.v

.While this specification sets forth in detail;` the present and preferred construction of the device, still in practice such Adeviations from Vsuch detail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the splrit of the invention .Y fas' defined by the appended claims.

4Having thus described my invention what f I claim lasnew and useful and desirev to secure by Letters Patent is ,1., A door structurev including a frame outlining the doory opening, a plurality of vertically movable panels mounted in connection with the frame, said panels being extensiblepdownwardly relative to eachv other and when extended forming a closure for said opening, means for raising'the panels to anopening-clearing position, each panel at its lower end when extended overlapping 25 the Aupper end of theadjacent panel below,

and cooperating slide meansv between the panels to hold them against horizontal movement relative'to each other.

217A doorl struct-ureY including, with Aa frame having side lmembers, a plurality of Y vertically movable panelslextending between -A ythe members, said panels being disposed in f' offset relation to each other and having their downwardly to conform to the dierence in plied to the lowest panel.V

3; A structure as 'u1 claim 2, in which the width vof the flanges, and raising means appanels when lowered are disposed so as to f be parallel to the edges of the guide slots whichy engage the outer edges of the flangesv whereby as each panel is raised it is confined in its `movement between said edges of the guide slots and theadjacent upper panel.

` In testimony whereof I'aiiix my signature.

` WILLIAM ALDERSON.

c description it will be readilylseenthat Ihave produced sucha device as'substantially fulfills the objects of the Y 

